Why Do Women Live Longer Than Men

Everywhere in the world women live longer than men - but this was not always the case. The available data from rich countries shows that women didn't live longer than men in the 19th century. Why do women live longer than men in the present and كيفية إقامة علاقة بالصور (More Information and facts) why does this benefit increase over time? The evidence is limited and we only have limited answers. While we are aware that there are biological, psychological and environmental factors that all play a role in women living longer than men, we do not know how much each one contributes.

In spite of how much amount, we can say that a large portion of the reason women live so much longer than men today but not previously, has to relate to the fact that some important non-biological aspects have changed. The factors changing are numerous. Some are well known and relatively straightforward, like the fact that men smoke more often. Others are more complicated. For example, there is evidence that in rich countries the female advantage increased in part because infectious diseases used to affect women disproportionately a century ago, so advances in medicine that reduced the long-term health burden from infectious diseases, especially for survivors, ended up raising women's longevity disproportionately.

Everywhere in the world women tend to live longer than men
The first chart below shows life expectancy at birth for men and women. As you can see, every country is above the diagonal parity line - it means that in all nations a newborn girl can expect to live for longer than a new boy.1

The chart below shows that although there is a women's advantage across all countries, differences between countries are often significant. In Russia, women live for 10 years longer than men. In Bhutan the difference is less that half a year.

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In the richer countries, the female advantage in longevity was smaller
Let's look at how female longevity advantage has changed in the course of time. The chart below illustrates the male and female life expectancies when they were born in the US during the period 1790-2014. Two specific points stand out.

First, there is an upward trend. Women and men in America live longer than they used to 100 years ago. This is in line with historical increases in life expectancy everywhere in the world.

Second, the gap is increasing: While the female advantage in life expectancy was extremely small however, it has grown significantly in the past.

By selecting 'Change Country in the chart, you are able to confirm that the two points also apply to other countries that have available information: Sweden, France and the UK.